Less than six years ago, then-President Donald Trump took on the influential gun lobby after the deadliest massacre in modern U.S. history. He announced that he had told the National Rifle Association that 鈥渂ump stocks are gone,鈥� arguing they 鈥渢urn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.鈥�
On Friday, Trump鈥檚 campaign to return to the White House defended a to strike down his own ban on those devices. Trump has been by the NRA and that he 鈥渄id nothing鈥� to restrict guns.
The Supreme Court's ruling called new attention to Trump's complicated record on the Second Amendment, one that he has downplayed this year given his conservative base's aversion to gun control 鈥� even as , according to public polling.
As president, Trump grappled with the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida and other mass shootings, and at times pledged to strengthen gun laws, .
At a meeting with survivors and family members of the Parkland shooting in 2018, for instance, Trump promised to be 鈥渧ery strong on background checks鈥� and later for being 鈥渁fraid of the NRA.鈥� He claimed he would stand up to the gun lobby and finally get results on quelling gun violence.
But after a meeting with the group, expressing support for modest changes to the federal background check system and for arming teachers, while saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that there was 鈥渘ot much political support (to put it mildly).鈥�
Now, he casts himself as
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for his campaign, issued a statement Friday saying the court's decision 鈥渟hould be respected.鈥�
鈥淧resident Trump has been and always will be a fierce defender of Americans鈥� Second Amendment rights and he is proud to be endorsed by the NRA,鈥� Leavitt said.
President Joe Biden called the Trump-era ban 鈥渁n important gun safety regulation,鈥� while the Democratic incumbent's campaign criticized Trump for nominating three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to strike down the ban.
鈥淲eapons of war have no place on the streets of America, but Trump鈥檚 Supreme Court justices have decided the gun lobby is more important than the safety of our kids and our communities,鈥� said Michael Tyler, a Biden campaign spokesman.
The Supreme Court the Trump administration overstepped when in 2018 it banned bump stocks after a where hundreds were wounded and dozens were killed. The devices allow a rate of fire comparable to machine guns.
The decision did not elicit an outpouring of response from most Republican members of Congress. That reflects the precarious situation it puts many in the GOP in as the ruling is seen as a victory for the pro-gun community despite overturning a Trump-era ban.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is a Kentucky Republican who has antagonized Trump and who supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥� failed bid for the White House. On Friday, he posted on X that 鈥淐ongress makes the laws, not the administrative branch鈥� and then wrote the top court had invalidated 鈥淭rump鈥檚 bump-stock ban.鈥� Other Republican federal lawmakers simply called it an 鈥渦nconstitutional鈥� ban but did not mention Trump.
The decision on Friday may gain more attention in the key Western battleground state of Nevada, where in 2017 a high-stakes gambler killed 60 people before killing himself, leaving his exact motive a mystery.
A Nevada state lawmaker who was among the 22,000 concertgoers who fled the barrage of bullets in Las Vegas in October 2017 said that 鈥淣o community has felt the devastating impact of bump stocks more than Nevadans.鈥�
鈥淣ow more than ever, it is important to elect Democrats up and down the ballot to ensure we keep our communities safe from the epidemic of gun violence and prevent soulless, morally corrupt, and bankrupt MAGA Republicans beholden to the gun lobby from being in charge of the public safety of our communities,鈥� said assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a Democrat. _____
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Farnoush Amiri and Scott Sonner contributed to this report.
Adriana Gomez Licon, The Associated Press
